"It's him.."
"Barely a bronze medal? Pftt.."
"Why did he even join the Inquisition? And why did they accept him?"
"They'll get a silver in two years don't worry."
"They'll get disbanded within two weeks though hahaha.."
I walk down the crowded halls, not bothering to bat an eye to all the other students and few Inquisition members whispering their trash talk.
There's no point, because they're not wrong.
That's just the way it is.
I walk up the stairs towards the third floor, passing by the two familiar girls going down the stairs and being loud with each other.
"Hey! Let go of me Nya!"
"I know you have my bow! Tell me where you hid it or I'll shove a slimeball down yours ears when you're sleeping you stupid cat!"
"N-N-Nya..!? Now I'll never tell you where I hid it Nyahahaha..!!"
"So you DO have it! W-Wait stop running! Hngg..!!" The short girl with silver hair starts to run after the other girl with cat ears, nearly tripping down the stairs as they disappear from sight.
Those two have been the talk of the academy since they've enrolled here two months ago. They've garnered a sort of high reputation. I forgot why, but it's likely because of their I guess 'Charming' appearances and ethics.
The most rational conclusion however is because they are the apprentices of the one that died in Fortuna.
Something about them being the first two apprentices to the one that ranked Paladin was enough to allow them enrollment.
They're always so loud in the mornings.
I reach the top of the stairs and walk down the deserted hallway, then someone exists the room in front of me, walking towards me on slightly wobbly legs slowly, clutching onto the wall for support.
"..Hah.." It's the student council president, looking as downcast and sorrowful as ever.
*STUMBLE* She nearly falls on her knees, letting go of the wall and clutching her chest with her painfully thin fingers as if she's struggling to breathe.
"O-Oh my! Please be careful, president..! C-can you stand?" Emilia appears from the same room, clutching onto her shoulders and helping her sustain her movements. "A-Are you alright? Can you make it to the dining hall?"
"..I'm.. I'm not hungry.. cough cough." She palms her mouth, looking like she's about to vomit everywhere, before she notices me and turns her red gaze away.
"President..! You have barely eaten anything yesterday.. You are worrying everyone greatly.. please.." Emilia notices me and gives me a small uneasy smile as they pass me, going down the stairs.
Rin's condition has slowly spiraled into a morbid state ever since Fortuna.
Some theorize it's because she saw and experienced something no one would ever want to face.
And some go as far as to say a curse has been placed on her with the state she's gotten in.
I'm not fully sure if it's just a coincidence or not, but maybe the death of that day did something to her, but I really can't be bothered to think about any of that.
I don't care, and it has nothing to do with me.
I reach the end of the hall, bringing my hand up to knock on the headmaster's room.
"Come in." A voice reaches back after a delay before I open the door and step inside, closing the door behind me.
"You needed me?"
"Ahh, yes, yes.. I have been waiting for you, Mr. Beretta, and..." He looks over his shoulder as he's facing the tall window behind his desk, then raises an eyebrow. "Is Gwynalice not with you?"
"She bailed." I walk over and sit myself down onto the single chair. "And just call me Hero, it's enough, trust me."
"Very well, Hero." He faces me, giving me a single look before sitting down at his desk, joining his hands together as they rest on his desk. "I will keep this short, as it has come to my attention on how.. busy your platoon has been getting, yes?"
"Thanks." I'm sure he knows he's the reason for all of it.
His polite smile morphs into a serious, thin line on his face as his tone drops to his low consequential one. "I understand you have noticed Akane's sudden disappearance."
"Yeah, I haven't seen her since last morning."
"That is correct. That morning, she had personally requested an assignment that would lead her outside the walls."
"She did what?"
"I can understand the confusion in your eyes... Just as I understood the fierce determination in hers the day she strived for such an assignment. It is because of this that I had granted her permission to venture out and look for Platoon Six's whereabouts in the mining village of Stillcreek to the south."
"Huh?" What was she thinking?
I get that the seek quest of Platoon Six hasn't been the most popular one, since it's been stuck to the quest wall for the past three days, but that didn't mean she had to be the one to do it all by herself. "Did she at least tell you why she went alone?"
"She had requested that remain confidential, but seeing as how worrisome the situation is getting.." He pauses as if contemplating, before he resumes. "She had made it abundantly clear how.. bothered she was.. that she couldn't do very much to assist in tasks for Platoon Seven's welfare." He pauses, clearing his throat, before resuming again. "I understand she has been having trouble with her summon since enrolling in the academy, and as such I have attempted to have her reconsider her sudden decision once she requested she head out alone... And on the other matter..."
"There's another matter?"
"The death of Alek has been of great significance since King Luthran's death. I am certain you have noticed as well." He looks over to the wall on the right, then onto one of the three big portraits.
"Yeah I've noticed.. I guess." I look over the painting and onto the portrait of the guy with black hair.
Not sure if it's just the dry paint or not, but his expression looks so faded and expressionless.
Even the portraits of the old men in between his look like they've been painted with life in mind.
"Rin's condition has been worsening. I am in no position to pry and share what she may not want to bring to light, but she has been eating very little, and her wellbeing is deteriorating day by day." He looks down at his hands, before looking back up at me. "Rin's father unfortunately passed away on the same day as the King. The event led her to establish the Pale Inquistion with Phardwin in order to investigate and put a stop to the group that brought about the unfortunate events."
"The Order, right?"
"Indeed... However a separate threat looms within the shadows of the Kingdom. An association is believed to exist after certain events on the day of the sword. The King's Will is convinced a Cult is making the rounds and causing havoc. From what we have investigated thus far, the recent spike in murders within the two-month span is linked to the Cult."
"There's a cult?"
"The information I have just shared with you is of great sensitivity. I implore you to keep the information I gave you within the Inquisition only."
"..Alright." Just how many problems does this Kingdom have?
And what's a 'day of the sword'? "Anything else I should know?"
A cult sounds stupid, what would they worship anyways? God?
But then that would make them no different than the Church.
Why make a Cult?
"Hmm.." He stands up and faces the tall window again, looking out at the sunlight slowly getting engulfed in pale clouds. "Let us end it here. I'm afraid it is already noon, and I do not want to shed any more daylight for your upcoming task."
I stand up, smoothing down my cloak. "So I just need to go look for Akane then.. You said she went to a mining village to the south?"
"One more thing, Hero." I look over my shoulder as he suddenly halts my way out towards the door. "I have allowed a group of newly graduated Knights to go along with you. A swordsman, a mage, and.. I am uncertain of the last one.."
"Wait, huh?"
"I understand how sudden the decision may seem, but I assure you there will be no burden." He faces me again, entwining his gloved fingers behind him. "They show promise, something this Kingdom welcomes with open arms. They are awaiting your arrival by your dorm. Be sure to lead them in the capable way I know you can."
"..Whate-... Alright."
"Continue south until you find a lake, then proceed onwards. I wish you the best of luck, and.. The Kingdom thanks you, Hero." He gives me a nod, before he turns away to look out the window.
I twist the polished doorknob before stepping out and closing it behind me, resuming down the hall. "A group of newly graduated Knights... God damn it." I just hope they can actually work as a team and not burn everything around them.
And I'm praying they can use actual magic.
"Good evening." Some guy with glasses, a sheathed long and thin blade and blonde hair nods to me as we pass each other.
I don't think I've seen him around; I would have remembered someone that is overly dressed for whatever occasion is waiting for him.
And who gave him that hat? His mother?
Probably his grandmother.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"You should put that down."
"S-Sorry..! Please don't get mad at me... I didn't mean to go through your stuff it's just..." The girl with long brunette hair fidgets with her fingers as she puts down the copper cog down on my bed. "You have so many shiny things in here..!!"
"I'm not angry, I'm saying it for our sake. Everything in here is susceptible to exploding. Try not to touch anything."
"Even this?" The guy with spiky dark-red hair looks at me as he holds up the silver sword I've been working on since I first came to this Kingdom half a year ago.
"Yeah, even that." I walk over and snatch it from him, carefully setting it down on my workbench. "Everything in here is susceptible to exploding. Remember... for our sake."
"Hmm? What are you, some kind of iron alchemist?" The slightly shorter girl with long and messy black hair spins the cog around her finger as she sits on my bed.
With her boots still on.
"I can't believe this is the third time I have to say it." I walk over and snatch it from her, placing it in my robe pocket. "Everything in here is susceptible to explo-ding." I walk over to my workbench and bundle up all the small cogs and slip them into the cabinets before turning to face the three of them. "But yeah, you could call it that."
It beats calling me a mechanic.
I'm far from that.
"Hwahaha! An iron alchemist huh?? I like this guy, I can tell we'll be safe with him!" Spiky hair wraps his arm around me and repeatedly pats my back over and over with his stupidly firm hand.
"I'm Alora, nice to meet you! A-And I'm sorry again for touching your stuff..ha.." The brunette girl with a black hairband extends her arm out to me, giving me a shy but genuine smile.
"Call me Grian." Spiky hair interrupts before I can return a greeting as his back pats get more firm with no regard for how much it's starting to hurt. "You're Hero huh??"
"Yeah.." I'll just let him get it out of his system.
"Maldyne, but just Mal will do fine." The short gloomy girl says in a barely audible tone, looking out the window. "Soo.. Are you sure they let you have all this.. explody stuff in your room, hmm?" She looks over to me as she says that last part with a smirk I'm used to seeing because of a certain royal pain in my ass.
"Crap.." I never let anyone in my dorm. I never thought of a way to explain a way out of this. It was a pain smuggling all this stuff in, I can't have it all get confiscated... Or worse, which is probably getting exiled for bringing such hazardous things within the dormitories.
"Juuust kidding.." The gloomy girl brings up her finger to her mouth as she makes a 'My lips are sealed' gesture, then turning away again to look out the window and onto the cloudy sky.
"..Thanks." I lucked out, but I'll have to be more cautious from here on. "Let's just get a move on." I walk over to my workbench and grab onto the prototype sword, holstering it on my back and giving the three unusuals a nod to follow me out of my room before they find something much more perilous than a tiny cog.
"Coming!"
"Aye aye."
"Mhmm.."
I lead them out of my room then towards the staircase as they walk behind me.
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*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"BLEHGHGHGH..!"
Rin leans against the stall wall, attempting to stay on her feet.
Falling against the cold tiled floor will seal her fate, as crashing against the ground will result in her remaining in place until she passes out from fatigue, she knows this all too well.
"Hah..Huff.." She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand as she flushes, looking away in disgust.
Not from vomiting out what little she ate, but from herself for once against proving how weak and frail she is for once again succumbing to her vulnerability and powerlessness.
The memory of losing one she held dear refuses to leave her mind.
And the flashback of witnessing it happen firsthand in front of her haunts her thoughts.
"You will never be enough."Her reflection repeats back to her as she gazes into the mirror.
Her stomach churns with aching revulsion she knows she can't escape.
She always finds herself looking at a mirror each and every day, reminding herself how far she has fallen, and much she has lost.
*CRACK!*
Glass fragments drop onto the pool of the cold water slowly flooding the sink as it begins to absorb the drops of blood dripping from her fist connected to the impact zone.
*Drip...Drip*
Warm teardrops mix with the red water, turning it salty as Rin fails to hold back her tears that are mixed with sorrow, anguish, and anger.
She suddenly looks back up at the cracked mirror, wiping her swollen eyes as she feels someone standing outside the restroom.
The sound of the sink emptying itself echoes behind her as she walks out the door, closing it behind her and looking at the petite girl crossing her arms, leaning her back against the wall.
"Prez." She greets, glancing over at her as she tucks her twin tail behind her ear.
"..Did.. did you need something, Yukki?" Rin wipes her mouth, hiding her bloodied knuckle behind her and swallowing a dry lump in her throat despite what she did not even five minutes ago.
"Yeah, I did." Yukki extracts herself from the wall, smoothing down her skirt as she begins to walk down the hall. "Let's talk over here." She says in a stern tone unusual for someone of her charismatic nature.
Rin watches her steadily gain distance, pondering with what little remains of her defiance if she should even listen, but yielding in the end.
The two walk in complete silence through the deserted halls, the sound of lectures underway echoing from the scattered doors.
"Come on." Yukki says over her shoulder as she opens the door to the student council room, waiting as Rin passes her, before she follows and gently closes the door behind her.
"..Well?" Rin walks over to the sofas in the center of the room, too exhausted to reach her desk that has been occupied with piles of unfinished paperwork. "..Speak what you have to." She drops herself onto the soft purple leather, wrapping her arms around her shoulders as she hugs herself, seeking warmth.
"Pre-... Rin." Yukki leans against the door, her back pressing against the glass on the center of the door that is covered in a purple curtain. "You have to take time off. This.. this isn't doing you any better. Being here isn't going to-"
"..I refuse." Rin's voice comes out in faint murmur, unable to meet her gaze.
"What?" Yukki pulls back from the door, straightening up and looking at Rin in disbelief. "Refuse? You're refusing?" Her lips further curve downwards, the frown on her face intensifying. "What do you mean you refuse? What exactly are you refusing?"
"..I can't.." Rin hugs herself tighter, keeping her crimson gaze lowered. "..I have a.. responsibility.. To this Kingdom.. to everyone here.. to"
"What? To the Inquisition?" Yukki slowly paces over, her frown remaining, fists beginning to ball to her sides. "Right?"
She stops as she stands in front of Rin, looking down at her. "Or.. to your dad?"
She notices Rin twitch subtly at the mention of her father, before pushing onward.
"Rin... Look at me..."
Rin tightens her grip on her shoulders, refusing to look up at Yukki's pink irises.
"Rin!" Yukki yells out, grabbing onto Rin's wrist, blood still dripping from her knuckles. "Look at yourself..." She feels her nerves beginning to boil as her gaze remains un-returned, before finally snapping. "RIN!"
Rin shivers, before finally looking up at Yukki and meeting her heated stare.
"..Let..." She looks down at her thin wrist, then onto the fingers impaled onto her pale skin. "..Yukki.. let go.."
"Shut up..!" Yukki grips onto Rin's thin hand tighter, holding it up to Rin's red eyes. "Look, Rin... LOOK..! Look at yourself, Rin..! Look at what this.. Look at what everything is doing to you..! You have a responsibility!? Rotting yourself with.. with all of this unfinished paperwork you can't even complete because of your exhaustion?? Stop being a dummy! This isn't a responsibility anymore Rin... I get it.. I-... I'm aching just as you are.. I.. I have people I miss too..! But.. but that doesn't mean I have to slowly kill myself, doofus..!" She brings up her hands and grips onto Rin's shoulders, firmly holding her fingers against her uniform. "He's gone.. alright? He's.. Alek is dead Rin! He's dead.. So move on already..! I'm sick of watching you struggle to stay conscious.. I'm.. I-I'm.. I'MSICK OF HEARING YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN VOMIT RIN! THE WALLS ARE THIN WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT."
"..Let me go Yukki."
"No idiot! I'm not.. I'm not letting you go.. Please Rin.." Yukki's grip on Rin's uniform lessens more and more, feeling a warmth beginning to pool in her eye sockets as she looks down at the ground. "..I can't.. I.. I don't even want to think.. I don't want to lose you too because of.. of responsibility.. Rin, get help.. Anywhere.. J-Just.. away from here.. I'll even take time off the King's Will for you.. Just please.. Stop being an idiot and listen to me!"
"Yukki let go NOW..!" Rin snaps, gripping onto Yukki's hands and throwing them off her, standing up before stumbling on her legs from the sudden movement her frail body is too weak to stabilize.
"B-Be careful moron!" Yukki reaches for her shoulders again, holding her steady. "..Why.. Why won't you listen.. Don't you see.. You're killing yourself.. Willingly..." Yukki struggles to hold back her own tears, the skin on her cheeks beginning to soak in the salty warmth. "..Rin.. have you f-finally decided life isn't worth it anymore..? Is the death of two people all it takes ..?"
"..." Rin remains silent, still leaning against Yukki's shorter frame, before reaching for her hands still planted on her shoulders. "..If there's nothing more.. I'm leaving.." She separates herself from Yukki, walking on wobbly legs towards the door out.
However, her movement gets halted as Yukki grabs onto her wrist. "..You haven't answered my question, Prez.." Yukki demands, her voice low and tired from yelling. "..Is it worth it? You working yourself to exhaustion until you die..? Is losing everything worth it to you..?"
The two stand in complete silence, the sound of the clock on the desk ticking echoing across the purple wallpaper.
"Um.." The two look over to the young elf stepping into the room. "Is Rin.. Oh! Are you two alri-?" She stops as Rin suddenly tumbles over, leaning against her smaller body. "P-President..!?"
"..Get her to the infirmary." Yukki walks over before passing them, opening the door wide.
"..Yukki? Where are you going?" Emilia looks over to Yukki, clutching tightly onto Rin's shoulders as she remains leaning against her, her breathing loud and unstable.
Yukki doesn't reply, resuming down the hallway as the door to the student council room closes.
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*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Are you really from Draevak..!!" Alora asks with surprise as we rest by the lake, letting our horses rehydrate.
"..Yeah."
"Whoa, really? What's it like over there?" Grian joins in on the interrogation as they scoot closer to me on the fallen log we're sitting on.
"Nothing special, it's just like any other Kingd-...Hmm.." The more effort I put in on actually giving it some thought, the more I realize just how far from the truth that statement is. "It's a handful.."
The Kingdom of Luthran is like an ant nest compared to the metropolis that is Draevak.
"Soo.. everything the students and knights said about you is true then?" Mal speaks up as she's sitting on the boulder across from us, fiddling with her long sleeves.
Alora and Grian suddenly go quiet, as if they're waiting for me to confirm whatever it is they've been told.
"What things?"
There is another brief silence.
"..O-Of course none of that is true! Hero doesn't seem like the cruel monster everyone says he is!" Alora is the first to break the silence, suddenly standing up. "And he's just as capable as any other leader.. we've made it this far outside the walls without problems..!!"
"I agree." Grian also stands up, walking over to his horse and stroking its mane. "I've had my doubts and.. uh.. nerves.. about venturing outside the Kingdom for the first time.. Especially after looking at all those creatures from the encyclopedias.. But if it wasn't for Hero's guidance, I would have still thought slimes were the most dangerous common monsters ever.."
"Me too! I still remember how the textbooks taught us to run away from slimes.. But now I feel like they're as easy to kill as any other insect!" Alora giggles to herself nervously as she wipes the few slime secretions from her boots.
"..Did you two really think slimes were that deadly?" We ran into a mob of slimes about halfway to the lake, and all I taught them was to aim for a slime's core to instantly kill it.
I sometimes wonder why they don't cover this stuff in the textbooks.
The monster encyclopedias feel like they were written by someone in a hurry.
And it just makes me wonder if this is the reason deaths relating to slimes are the most common.
But I'm still surprised how well coordinated this group is. Alora's magic arrows work how they should, and Grian knows his limits as a knight, which is rare among newly graduates.
Mal hasn't done jack though, except sit back and yawn every second she gets.
"N-Never mind that..! I think our horsies are set to go..!!" Alora suddenly mounts her horse, looking over to us with an embarrassed smile as she waits for us to do the same.
"I guess we should start moving before it gets dark.. let's go!" Grian is the second to mount his, clutching onto his hilted sword as it dangles around his waist.
"Race you there." Mal instantly passes us as she zooms forward on her horse.
Who even is she?
.
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*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"Uhm.. is this it?"
"Why does this place feel so lightless.."
"Yes, I'm sure it is." My allies voice their doubts as we approach the designated village that has apparently caused many travelers to go missing.
The sunlight has already started to go dim by the time we pass through the crooked ruined wooden gate and past the flimsy fence, painting the small, drenched village in a dark blue-ish gray.
We start to tie the leads around our horses then onto the staples next to a ruined bricked church, before we begin down the damp dirt path leading to the heart of the village.
"Soo, what now, leader." Maldyne speaks up as the four of us walk side by side. "You know where to go.. riiight?"
"No." I give it to her straight, because it's the truth. "But we can start by asking the locals." I take a look around the deserted village as we walk, noticing some faces peeking through the windows before they eventually get covered by curtains as if the people inside are trying not to get noticed.
"But.. who are we supposed to ask..? There's no one out here.." Alora asks as she also looks at the many faces peeking through the windows of their worn-down homes, hugging herself through her uniform coat as if the many stares are giving her chills.
"No one's going to be out here at this hour.. Maybe it's best we come back tomorrow or something, aye Hero?" Grian looks over to me, ignoring the scattered gazes to his best ability.
"We can't. We have to get this done today." I feel like the more time passes, the more I risk letting something happen to Akane. I can't have a member of my platoon get killed in action, or else we lose a significant amount of evaluation for allowing a team member to get killed. "It's not that dark. We can still make this work. Look, there's some people up ahead, let's go talk to them." I point to a group of four men sitting by the well in the middle, laughing to themselves loudly and very rudely, as if they're drunk.
"Ah!?" The blonde man instantly jerks his head over to us as we approach, holding a bottle of what I presume to be booze. "Well well, look'it here, boys.. more knights from Luthran!" He stands up from his leaning position against the well as the other three start to study our every detail. "And a pair of brats too! I sure wonder how demented the King has to be to send in a pair of kids to their deaths bahaha..! GLUP GLUB" He begins to loudly drink his bottle, the other three laughing to themselves as we get close enough to smell their rancid breaths.
"The King is dead." I step forward, getting in front of my allies and motioning for them to stay behind me.
I'll be the one to do the talking since I've noticed Alora shaking, probably due to nerves or maybe just embarrassed shyness.
Grian has his arms crossed as if he's holding himself back from decking them in the face for their behavior, and I can't have him scaring them away this soon.
And Mal is just looking off into space.
"PFFTAHAHA! Seriously!? Get a load of that boys!" The blonde man spat out the strong liquid from his dirty mouth after he broke into a laugh. "It's no wonder the 'Knights' they've been sending have all died! They don't even have someone to look up to anymore! AAHAHAHA!"
"HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA The four all laugh as they look at my drenched face.
HAHAHAHAH...!!"
"..Hm." I wipe at my face from the rancid liquid that was blown all over me. "..Yeah, he's been dead for a year." I then reach my hand out and stop Grian from walking forward, preventing him from losing his final temper. "Let's just cut to the chase.."
"U-Uhm here.." I look to Alora on my right and take the pink handkerchief she offered me timidly before I start to wipe the last drops of alcohol on my white cloak.
"Welll!" The blonde man suddenly steps forward, eyeing Alora with a concerning gaze as she lets out a whimpered shriek. "Aren't you a sweet lil' cinnamon roll? A real shame something as small as you has to die AHAHA-OOF!" He stumbles back mid laugh after getting pushed back against the bricked well, dropping his bottle in a shattering impact after Grian got in front of Alora.
"Get away from her." He stands in front of her, his hand on his holstered sword.
"..Why, you little..!" One of the bald men pulls out a rusty knife as the other two follow and reveal their similar small and rusty armaments.
"Ghh..!" The blonde man rises back up, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small flintlock pistol.
"You don't scare me." Grian finally draws his silver sword, standing his ground as the four men start to get ready for a brawl.
"Hahh.. Can we all just take it eas-"
"THE CUUURSE..!"
Everyone pauses their movements as we all look over to the old lady getting escorted out of her house by Mal.
"..Wait, when did she-"
"IT'S THE CURSE..!!" The crazy old lady repeats very loudly as she comes in between us and the violent drunk men.
"..Uh, what curse.." I look over at Mal standing next to her as she just looks back at me with a thumbs up.
"..Not again..." The blonde man puts his flintlock pistol away as he sighs to himself. "Don't start with your ghost stories now gran.. Hurry up back inside."
"IT'S KING AGAMEMNON'S CURSE! NO ONE LISTENS TO-COUGH! COUGH! COUGH..!!" The elderly woman suddenly breaks into raspy coughs, clutching onto her wooden cane.
"..Wait, did you say Agamemnon?"
"..Bah! She's just having another one of her senile moments again, it's nothin' worth asking about." The blonde man walks over to her and helps her steady herself. "..Let's get you back in bed." He begins to lead her by her shoulders back to her house as the other three men disperse across the village.
"Uh.. who's Aga..mem.. nom?" Alora speaks up after a brief moment as the four of us are left alone in the heart of this village.
"I've never even heard of that name." Grian puts his sword away, looking up at the fading sun and incoming dark clouds.
"It sounds like something out of a fairy tail.. a weird fairy tail." Mal adds, wrapping her long-sleeved covered hands around herself as the evening air starts to set in.
The three then look at me, as if they're waiting for me to plan our next course of action.
It's already getting late, and we haven't gotten any sort of info about any of the missing people.
And I really hate to leave empty handed this far out from the Kingdom.
"Let's go gather whatever we can from that village elder." They then look at me like I just said the most confusing thing ever, except for Mal, who looks like she's down for it.
"..But.. is that really the right thing to do? Alora asks with hesitation in her voice.
"..Yeah, she's not exactly.. stable.. Will we really get anything useful out of someone like that?" Grian shares the same tone of hesitation.
"Doesn't hurt to try." Mal starts to follow behind me as I begin to walk over to the elder's home, before I hear Alora and Grian begin to catch up.
I don't think someone like that is just making things up out of an unstable mind.
Not when they said the name that is apparently part of classified knowledge.
She has to know something, and I intend to find out just what it is the King's Will is hiding.
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|==================|
"One million six hundred thousand thirty-four, one million six hundred thousand thirty-five.. One million six hundred thousand thirty-si- THIS PLACE IS SO FUCKING STUPID LUCIFEEER..!"
What in god's dick was that woman thinking making a place more agonizing than a place that exists outside the god damn fabric of reality and inside the consciousness of my ASS or some shit!?
At one point I wondered just how much time has passed since I've been in this place.
And spending 99 percent of your time just walking down long corridors got boring, so I began to count seconds, starting from one.
"One million.. six hundred.. uh.." I just lost my train of thought.
I'll have to start over.
Again.
"..One."
I'm not a very violent person.
I prefer to handle things calmly and MOST IMPORTANTLY... logically, when I get mad or annoyed.
But this is just all kinds of stupid, dumb, stupid, dumb, dumb and stupid, and oh yeah... RETARDED.
The reason I'm mad isn't because I'm stuck in this place all alone with not a single clue on how to find Lucifer so I can get out and... I can't believe I'm saying this... But so I can go back to getting dragged all over the world that wants to get rid of me in a way that isn't as STUPID AS THIS PLACE THAT IS SOMETHING STRAIGHT UP RIPPED FROM A VR HORROR GAME.
The reason I'm mad is because everything that lurks in this place will kill me the second I'm spotted, and I can't do crap about it.
But wait, there's more.
When I die - Emphasis on WHEN - I'll get brought back to the last lantern I lit up, kind of like a checkpoint.
Hold up, there's more.
The monsters in this place are so horrible and terribly unbalanced.
Fighting or even running is somehow more impossible than dividing by 0.
I may as well let myself get killed the very second I'm spotted to avoid wasting time.
But what is time exactly?
Don't ask me.
Still, I very much enjoy avoiding that option.
Getting killed hurts.
I've had my insides plucked out.
I've had my bones snapped and used against me to gouge out my eyeballs.
I've had my head get decapitated and placed on a headless statue of Lucifer.
I've even had the entire central nerves that course through my body peeled out from my arm.
Like spaghetti.
I can go on and on.
But I'll spare the details.
"..Five, six, seven, eight.. ni- Oh shoot.." I immediately cover my mouth as I turn a corner, hoping the thing standing in the middle of the hall didn't sense my surprise.
It's one of those old lady things.
Let me explain.
Of all the things I've encountered in this place, this one bugs me the most.
It looks like a gorified elderly woman wearing an iron visor with a stitched body, and her limbs are replaced with steel poles.
Kind of like a spider that crawls on all fours.
I have never met something so dead set on wanting to kill me so they can scoop up my insides as much as this thing.
*clng**clng*clng**clng*
The sound of metal poles poking against the ground echoes very loudly as the thing crawls along the ground, and frankly, has me traumatized quite a bit.
"..Easy does it.." I try to maneuver around it as calmly as I am physically able to.
I've noticed around my fourth death that these things can't actually see me, hear me, or even sense me.
And you're maybe wondering what kind of skill issue this is to be able to die to something that can't even detect me with the most basic of senses.
There is only one way it can detect me, and it is very silly.
"Gulp.." I eventually get so close that I can now hear it breathing in a raspy gurgle.
This is the farthest I've managed to get in this part of the area.
I've kept dying over and over in the previous room because those god damn statues kept snapping my throat the instant I looked away.
The last checkpoint was about two rooms ago, which is pretty far.
I really don't want to have to go through it all again, and I can feel myself getting nervous.
*...Sniff...Sniff...*
I stop dead in my tracks as I hear it smelling the air around it, and I feel a bead of sweat rolling down my neck.
Does it know?
Probably not, I might be able to get far enough to exit its range.
But what if I don't make it in time?
I'll end up getting detected and killed, then get sent back.
The thought starts to make me sweat more and more, and by the time I realize I've been overthinking too much to the point of feeling dread, it's too late.
*...Sniff....*
I feel its breath behind me.
It smelled my fear.
*AAAAAAAAAHHHH AHHHHHHHHG RAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH*
It starts to scream like a lunatic.
I start to bolt down the hallway, running as fast as my lungs allow me to.
*clng**clng**CLNG*CLNG*
The metal poles poking against the ground get louder and louder as I realize I'm dead no matter how fast I try to run.
I look over my shoulder, and it's already more than halfway close to me, and I have about... less than 12 seconds before I'm brutally torn apart.
"DAMN IT." I ended up dropping my torch after looking behind me like an idiot.
I didn't even need to do that, I knew it was gonna catch up eventually, there was legit no point in looking back to witness how far it's caught up.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT..!" I can see a faint outline in the pitch darkness ahead, and it looks to be light peeking out from under a door.
*AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!*
The thing continues to scream from behind me, now literally less than four seconds from reaching me.
The hallway gets more and more brighter as I get closer to the door, and I suddenly spot a tall cage stuffed to the brim with human skulls just to the right.
"HOW'S THIS BOZO." I knock it over, tumbling an avalanche of skulls onto the ground as they roll and spread everywhere.
*GHHAGHHHH*
*ClaaNGngng,,,*
I hear the sound of metal poles comically falling against the ground along with the thing's screaming, probably after it tripped over the sea of skulls.
"EEEIIYAH..!" I LAUNCH myself forward like a ballistic missile at the door.
* B O N K *
I fall against the ground after slamming headfirst onto the thick door, half expecting it to slam itself open from the force of my missle-istic launch.
I forgot every single wooden door in this place is locked.
I stand up, fumbling with my pocket as I pull out the small nail.
*RAAAAAAGHHHHHH*
*CLNG**CLNG**CLNG**CLNG*
I hear it stand up and resume its loud chase from behind me as I insert the nail into the keyhole before twisting it around.
*clck*
I hear it click open before I slam it open and close it behind me in a loud and desperate THUD.
*PFFANG!**THUD!**PWAM!* I hear it slamming and banging against the door, before it eventually gives up as the rough and metallic movements echo away into the distance.
I then look down at the dimly lit lamp in the center of the room.
"WoOoOoooOoOOOOO...!!! YEAHH BABYY..!!"
And that's how it's done.
"..Wait."
The torch.
I dropped it.
"..No.."
Without the red torch, I can't light up the lamp in red.
"..N-No....."
No red lit lamp = No checkpoint.
"..NOOOOOOOOOOOO..!!!!!"
I drop against the ground in actual defeat.
How could I have been so careless.
I can't go on without the red torch.
There's just no actual way of telling how much more I'll have to traverse in this place.
And if I die only to respawn waaay back where I was, I will cry.
"..Well, crap."
I clutch onto the nail in my hand, then I bring it up to my throat.
This is for the best.
"GOD DAMN IT ALL."
I clutch it with both hands, then I forcefully thrust it into my throat before sliding it downward.
*SCHCKKKKKKKKKL*
*clingngngn...*
The nail falling onto the rough ground and rolling away is the last thing I hear, other than myself choking in my blood.
.
.
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[__________________________]
"Are you absolutely certain the Devil is no more?"
"Do you doubt me!? It is as I have said! The presence of the one that bears death is no more! I have scavenged the ends of the continent with great haste and GREATER amount of exertion!"
"So you say... But then.. Why does the third moon remain tainted in red.."
"Satan's schemes have always been of great mutiny and repulsive blasphemy only a plebian is capable of bringing to reality. It is simply beyond me why it remains that way... But have no doubts, for the great CHAMUEL HAS MADE CERTAIN THE PRECENSE OF UNHOLY AMALGAMATION IS NO MORE."
"..I do so wish you took these matters more seriously."
"I DO."
"..Hm."
"TRULY."
"Very well then... Do begin a second patrol for me. However, just to be absolutely certain.. check on the Northern Continent of Islanera."
"TRULY?"
"Truly."
"..HMPH! So.. BE IT!"
"Careful where you spread your wings.. This makes the sixth incident you knock over my vase-.. At least remain until I finish.."
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[__________________________]